The New Era 1920s APUSH– March 2011

Life cover, July 1, 1926 "One Hundred and Forty-three Years of LIBERTY and Seven Years of PROHIBITION." (Private Collection) Life cover, July 1, 1926 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

BUSINESS BOOM

THE “ GOOD”

Shift in Economic Morals During the 1920s there is a shift in how people spent their money. Traditionally Americans valued thrift. They bought what they needed, not always what they wanted or found non-essential. During the 1920s a consumer economy developed: one that depends on a large amount of spending by consumers. 5 reasons for that growth: higher wages, clever advertising, new products, lower costs, and widespread availability of credit. The philosophy of the 1920s= “ Everybody Ought to Be Rich”- John J. Raskob

BUSINESS PROSPERITY ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: Productivity: up 50% Unemployment: 4% Standard of living: (where?) indoor plumbing central heating electricity (2/3 by 1930) CAUSES OF BUSINESS PROSPERITY :  Increased productivity (scientific management, machinery)  Increased use of oil and electricity  Favorable government policy (laissez-faire, tax breaks, antitrust)– Moving away from the Progressive era regulations. Gross National Product, Unemployment,

Automobiles & Industrial Expansion Henry Ford ‘Fordism’ Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928 (From the Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village) “ Trying out the new assembly line“ Detroit, 1913 Henry Ford ( ) 1913: 14 hours to build a new car 1928: New Ford off assembly line every 10 seconds 1913: car = 2 yrs wages 1929: 3 mos. wages

Automobiles & Consumerism Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved < Ford ad: < Ford ad: “Every family -- with even the most modest income, can now afford a car of their own." “Every family should have their own car...You live but once and the years roll by quickly. Why wait for tomorrow for things that you rightfully should enjoy today?" (Library of Congress) Dodge advertisement photo, 1933

Auto Manufacturing

CONSUMERISMCONSUMERISM ( electric) appliances automobiles advertising (image vs. utility) buying on credit chain stores Consumer Debt, 1920–1931 General Electric ad (Picture Research Consultants & Archives )

CONSUMERISM: Impact of the Automobile Replaced the railroad as the key promoter of economic growth (steel, glass, rubber, gasoline, highways) Daily life: commuting, shopping, traveling, “courting” Increase in sales: million registered; million registered (=almost one per family) Passenger Car Sales, Filling Station, Maryland in 1921

BUSINESS – FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT

A Decade of Republicanism Republicans will dominate the White House from 1921 to Republicans held the majority in Congress. Supreme Court decisions reflected the influence of their new chief justice- William H. Taft. Republicans basic policies and goals were simple- they favored business and social stability. They believed social stability promoted economic growth.

BUSINESS – FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT Warren G. Harding “Return to normalcy” Return to laissez-faire policies. End of the Progressive era Harding Presidency=Scandal The “Ohio Gang” Teapot Dome Scandal Harding with Laddie, June 13, 1922 Albert B. Fall (left)

BUSINESS – FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT Calvin Coolidge became president after Harding’s death. Wanted to restore dignity to the presidency. It was said that “ he could be silent in five different languages” “The chief business of the American people is business” He felt that the best thing he could do was to leave business alone and allow it to grow. Lowered income tax, increased tariffs, and refused to regulate the buying of stock with easy credit. President Calvin Coolidge

BUSINESS – FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT Herbert Hoover Al Smith- 1 st Catholic Nominee for President “ A chicken In every pot” Herbert Hoover Election of 1928

SOCIETY, CULTURE & VALUES

American Isolationism After World War I, the U.S. sought a sense of “ normalcy” that Warren G. Harding promised as he ran for President in American wanted that stability after the war. As a result, America adopted the foreign policy of isolationism ( avoiding political and economic alliances) in the 1920s and 30s.

Isolationism in Action U.S. refusal to sign the Versailles Treaty ( League of Nations) Took on a policy of disarmament– Washington Conference. Fordney-McCumber Tariff Scaled back British and France’s repayment of debt. Limited Immigration Kellogg- Briand Pact.

NativismNativism As Americans became more isolationist, they also became more nativist. Why: 1. Patriotism-they believed that foreigners could never be fully loyal to the U.S. 2. Religion- Nativists, who were mostly Protestant had long mistrusted Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Jews 3. Urban Conditions- Americans blamed problems in the cities on immigrants. 4. Jobs- workers feared that immigrants would take their jobs. 5. RED SCARE!

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Xenophobia and Racial Unrest Harding passed a law restricting immigration- U.S. would now use a quota system. National Origin Act of 1924 Number of Immigrants and Countries of Origin, and Percentage of Population Foreign Born,

Immigration,

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Xenophobia and Racial Unrest Communist International 3 rd International Goal (1919): promote worldwide communism Red Scare Palmer Raids (1920) A. Mitchell Palmer’s Home bombed, 1920 Police arrest “suspected Reds” in Chicago, 1920

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Xenophobia and Racial Unrest Sacco & Vanzetti HAVE A CHAIR! from The Daily Worker IS THIS THE EMBLEM? from The Daily Worker Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, 1921

Demographical Changes Real Time Demographics Migration North African Americans moving north at rapid pace. Why? –Jim Crow laws –New job opportunities in north –1860 – 93% in south –1930 – 80% in south Struggles: Faced hatred from whites Forced low wages

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Xenophobia and Racial Unrest Birth of a Nation - D.W. Griffith “new” Ku Klux Klan 4 million Klan members (Picture Research Consultants & Archives) Ku Klux Klan initiation, The Klan opposed all who were not “true Americans”. (c) 2000 IRC

Reactions to the Racial Tensions Red Summer NAACP work to pass federal anti- lynching laws and protect voting rights. The Garvey Movement—Marcus Garvey and the UNIA. He called for black pride and the separation of races.

Black Population, 1920

Ku Klux Klan (mid-1920s) (Private Collection) Copyright 1997 State Historical Society of Wisconsin

Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan parade in Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 1926

CHANGES IN LITERATURE & ART African Americans Harlem Renaissance- cultural rebirth for African Americans Langston Hughes “ I, too, sing America, I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong… Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table when company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen,’ Then. Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed- I, too, am America.” – Langston Hughes-1926 Langston Hughes

CHANGES IN LITERATURE & ART Jazz Jazz “The Jazz Age” Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington Louis Armstrong & the Fate Marabel band, 1919 Louis Armstrong

MASS CULTURE: Radio New mass medium 1920: First commercial radio station By 1930: over 800 stations & 10 million radios Networks: NBC (1924), CBS (1927) The radio is significant because it created a common culture in America. Americans in New York were listening to the same thing Americans were listening to in Michigan. The Spread of Radio, to 1939

MASS CULTURE: Movies Movie “palaces” “talkies” (1927) Air conditioning 80 million tickets sold per week by 1930 (population: 100 million) (Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library)

ROLE OF WOMEN: the “New Woman” the “New Woman” “pink collar” jobs- traditional women’s jobs Women’s fashions, 1920 Women in the Workforce,

ROLE OF WOMEN – the “flapper” The “flapper”  Challenged the traditional ways.  Revolution of manners and morals.  A flapper was an emancipated young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes.

ROLE OF WOMEN: Women and Politics Impact of suffrage League of Women Voters National Women’s Party Alice Paul Margaret Sanger Alice Paul Sheppard-Towner Act

THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY  American birthrates declined for several decades before the 1920s.  Trend continues in 1920s with development of birth control.  Margaret Sanger  Birth control activist  Founder of American Birth Control League  ie. Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger and other founders of the American Birth Control League

MODERN FAMILY EMERGES  Marriage was based on romantic love.  Women managed the household and finances.  Children were not considered laborers/ wage earners anymore.  Seen as developing children who needed nurturing and education

CHANGES IN LITERATURE & ART Literature “lost generation”- a people disconnected from their country and its values. They rejected Americans quest for material possessions. They deemed American popular culture to be artless and uninspired. Most left for Europe ( Paris) to escape the uninspiring America. F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald on the Riviera, 1926 (Stock Montage) Eugene O’Neill

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS

URBAN VS. RURAL  Farms started to struggle post- WWI. As a result--6 million moved to urban areas.  Urban life was considered a world of anonymous crowds, strangers, moneymakers, and pleasure seekers.  Rural life was considered to be safe, with close personal ties, hard work and morals. Cities were impersonal Farms were innocent

ReligionReligion “modernists” “fundamentalism” Scopes Trial The clash in traditional vs. modern values come to a head in the Scopes trial. This is where evolution vs. creationism is hotly debated. American Civil Liberties Union Clarence Darrow William Jennings Bryan

SPEAKEASIES AND BOOTLEGGERS  Many Americans did not believe drinking was a sin  Most immigrant groups were not willing to give up drinking  To obtain liquor, drinkers went underground to hidden saloons known as speakeasies  People also bought liquor from bootleggers who smuggled it in from Canada, Cuba and the West Indies.  Big money was to be made in smuggling and it lead to the rise of gangs/mobsters. Speakeasies

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Prohibition Prohibition The noble experiment “wets and dries” Al Capone Alphonse “Scarface” Capone Government agents breaking up an illegal bar during Prohibition